Relatives demand justice as police go on trial over Katrina killings

Ronald Madison stayed on in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina - he could not bear to leave behind the family dogs, a beloved pair of dachshunds called Bobbi and Sushi. It cost him his life.

Madison, 40, who had the mental age of a child, was shot by police one morrning on Danziger Bridge. James Brisette, 19, was also killed, and four others, including two women, seriously injured. All were black. None had committed a crime.

Now seven police officers are set to stand trial for the murders in a grim tale of race, trigger-happy police and an apparent cover-up. 'This is a racial tragedy,' said the Rev Raymond Brown, a black community leader and local head of a civil rights group, the National Action Network. The city is split over the trial. When the policemen were charged at New Orleans's jail, a crowd of 200 gathered to cheer: 'Heroes! Heroes!' One placard declared: 'Thanks for protecting our city.' Now, they said, is no time to be prosecuting the police.

But Romell Madison wants to see his brother's killers treated like any other accused citizens. 'I want justice to prevail. True justice for what happened to my brother,' he said.

The events of 4 September, 2005, on Danziger Bridge are clear enough. It was five days after the storm and the city was in chaos. Just after 9am, a group of refugees was seeking to cross the bridge, including Ronald Madison, who wanted to get to his brother's dental office. Another family was near by, headed for an abandoned supermarket to pick up food and water. Suddenly an unmarked van pulled up. Seven gunmen - not in uniform - jumped out and opened fire. One witness, Kasimir Gaston, has described the men as lining up 'like at a firing range'. When the gunfire stopped, Madison and Brisette were dead. Susan Bartholemew had her arm shot off. Her teenage daughter Lesha was shot four times. Her husband, Leonard, was shot in the back, head and foot.

Yet the shooting was initially reported as the heroic efforts of policemen defending themselves. The men said they were responding to a distress call of 'officer down' from the bridge. When they arrived they said they came under fire and shot back. They claimed Madison had a gun tucked into his belt and moved as if he was about to draw it. An initial police investigation cleared the 'Danziger Seven'.

But that version of events has fallen to pieces and civil rights groups want the police department to be investigated for a possible cover-up. Madison was shot five times in the back as he ran away - no casings linked to any guns but the officers' were found. There were no injured officers. Many of the witnesses cited in the initial police report cannot be traced. No survivors heard the police shout a warning; they assumed they were being attacked by looters. If police claims of coming under fire were true, their truck would have had bullet holes in it. The police say the vehicle is missing.

Many people believe the Danziger Bridge shootings were typical of a police force with a long reputation for brutality, especially against blacks. It has raised suspicions about a police shoot-to-kill policy after the storm. Even the District Attorney, Eddie Jordan, did not mince his words: 'We cannot allow our police officers to shoot and kill our citizens without justification, like rabid dogs.'

There have also been doubts expressed about the judge assigned to the trial, Raymond Bigelow. Several of Bigelow's legal clerks have family links to the Seven's legal team and he is under investigation for remarks he allegedly made about 'crazy black judges'.

There is anger, too, that some of the accused are back at work. 'It is unprecedented to be charged with first-degree murder and allowed out on bail and to be able to go back to work at the police department,' said Mary Howell, a civil rights lawyer working with the victims.

Yet the situation is far from clear-cut. In 2006 New Orleans had America's highest murder rate. There were 162 killings and one conviction. At times it feels like a city under siege. And not all the Danziger Seven are white; four are black or Hispanic. That has raised suspicions that politicians are inflaming the race issue; a high-profile case like this gives career-boosting opportunities. 'It has all become political,' said Sergeant Donovan Livaccori, the police union spokesman. 'The Seven just want to get the process going and get their names cleared.'

Neither does Romell Madison believe the cops were racist. 'There is a small group of rogue cops that exist and they thought they were above the law. They thought they could do whatever they wanted,' he said.

For Howell, race is important. 'If it had been a white, middle-class family walking across that bridge, those officers would not have been so quick to jump out and shoot them,' she said.